Away Games: Remi Elie lining up for Buffalo Sabres

Green Valley's Remi Elie heavily checks Ottawa Senators defenseman Thomas Chabot into the boards, in a game in Kanata on Nov. 1.Handout/The Canadian Press/Cornwall Standard-Freeholder/Postmedia Network
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Green Valley’s Remi Elie is getting to play professional hockey much closer to home this season.

Elie is a former forward with the NHL’s Dallas Stars in Texas, but these days he skates in Buffalo, his first season with the Sabres.

The Sabres early last month claimed the rugged winger off waivers from the Stars. Elie, 23, was a Dallas second round pick back in 2013.

Elie played a total of 90 NHL games over the last two seasons, and in 72 contests during the 2017-18 campaign, he scored six goals and collected a total of 14 points.

He’s played in four games with the Sabres and is yet to register his first point.

The Sabres claimed Elie for depth up front, and they think he can ultimately be a bigger offensive contributor than he was with Dallas.

Elie has one more year remaining on his contract with a $735,000 cap hit and becomes a restricted free agent at the end of the 2018-19 season.

Junior hockey fans in the Seaway Valley are very familiar with Elie, who formerly skated with the Hawkesbury Hawks after his minor hockey career with the Eastern Ontario Wild came to an end.

He went on to play in the Ontario Hockey League, mainly with the Belleville Bulls, and later with the Erie Otters, where he skated on the same line as phenom Connor McDavid.

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Cornwall’s Jeremy Pike and the St. Francis Xavier X-Men are AUS Loney Bowl football champs.

The X-Men took the Atlantic playoff title by winning on the road at Halifax in wet, rainy conditions on Saturday afternoon, taking down the Saint Mary’s Huskies 33-9.

A 21-point fourth quarter was the key to what turned into a runaway victory for the X-Men, who captured their third conference championship in the last four years and 14th in team history.

St. Francis Xavier has a 7-2 record. Saint Mary’s fell to 7-1.

Pike, a veteran defensive back, had another good day for the X-Men, intercepting one pass and registering three tackles.

Pike was a high school star at the quarterback position, suiting up for the Holy Trinity Falcons, and he also played at the pivot position and later as a receiver with the Cornwall Wildcats of the Ontario varsity league.

The X-Men, who led 12-3 at halftime, got a standout performance from all-star running back Jordan Socholotiuk, who was named the game MVP. Socholotiuk had 179 yards on 34 carries, on a day when heavy showers and gusty winds were ideal conditions for a team that runs the ball very well.

“Obviously it was going to be a heavy run kind of game,’’ Socholotiuk told reporters after the contest. “There weren’t too many opportunities to pass the ball, except for short passes.’’

The victory means the X-Men advance to the U SPORTS national semifinal, the Uteck Bowl, against the RSEQ champion Laval Rouge et Or. The contest is being hosted by Laval in Quebec City on Saturday.

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Kristi Pidgeon and the defending NCAA champion Clarkson Golden Knights women’s hockey squad is off to a 9-1 start to the 2018-19 campaign.

The Golden Knights, coming off a 3-0 win over R.P.I. a week ago at home in Potsdam, travel to Brown University in Rhode Island this Friday, and they play at Yale (New Haven, Connecticut) on Saturday.

Pidgeon, a sophomore-year forward from Ingleside, has played in nine games so far and has registered an assist.